Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

It's no secret I love getting my hair done!  Send me to a salon (not saloon) for an afternoon, and I'm a pretty happy camper.

Yesterday was a big day for my little McD family.  We paid a visit to Moore Hair Design for "new dos" for me, Cam, and Lil.  A true "Hair Extravaganza!"  Cam got his first "official" hair cut, and now looks like the most adorable, grown up, little man on the block!  OF COURSE I got my hair colored--a yummy redish-purplish color called "Red Berry."  (The name makes me want something cold, sweet, and slushy to drink!)  But I must say, the award for "The Biggest Change" goes to my sass-a-fras, Ms. Lilly.

She climbed up onto the booster seat in the salon chair, and proudly sat down.  My beautiful friend/Hair Goddess/genius-with-scissors, Brooke, said, "Alright, what are we doing with Lilly's hair?"

"It's so long," I said, "it's become a pain to wash and to comb through.  The tangles and snarls hurt Lilly's head and make her cry.  Doing her hair has become a battle I'm losing!  You could cut about seven inches off of it, to make it more manageable."

Brooke combed through it and we stood, side by side, looking at Lilly's tresses.  "Seven inches and it would still be past her shoulders," I said.

Brooke was quiet for a moment while she measured Lilly's hair with her comb.  After a pause, she said, "You know...three more inches and she could donate it to Locks of Love."

Locks of Love is a wonderful, non-profit organization that helps children (under the age of twenty-one) who are suffering from medical hair loss.  The long term loss could be due to cancer treatments or other diagnoses.  (Interestingly, the majority of the children who are helped are living with a medical condition called alopecia areata.)  Hair that is donated is made into hairpieces for these children, especially to those who are financially disadvantaged.  The donated hair must be a minimum of 10 inches in length.

10 inches.

I knelt down beside Lilly's chair and looked up into her pretty face.  I asked her what she thought about having short hair that would barely skim her shoulders.  I asked her what she thought about giving her lovely long locks away;  "To children who are sick," I explained.  In my mind I thought, If she doesn't want to do this, I won't make her do this.  She grinned that sparkly, mischievous grin of hers and said, "I want to cut it."

Gulp.

I admit that first snip, snip, snip about put me into cardiac arrest.  My palms felt a little sweaty.

And then there was no going back.

As the hair came off, Lilly started to wiggle and kick her legs and tap her feet...as if she felt lighter.  She did a great job--letting go of all that hair--and I think she loved feeling like a "big girl."  As I stood on the "sidelines" and watched, I found that I couldn't stop giggling about her cute, short cut.  (Could giggling like my young daughter be a side effect of shock?!)

The finished product is adorable.  She's adorable.  I'm so proud of my Lilly Mae, for being good and brave in that "hot seat."  For being open to trying something utterly new.  For being willing to serve in a way her small, five-year-old self could.

I can't wait to tell her more about this experience when she's a bit older.

How she selflessly gave her hair away, to a child who really needed it.